The Past is Just a Story
by shannyfish
Summary: James and Kara talk about Clark. Summer of Supergirl prompt: Superman's Pal - James Olsen.


"You know, he and I don't agree on everything either…"

Kara wasn't exactly sure how the subject of their lunch had changed. Winn wasn't around and so it was just her and James. Somehow, they'd ended up talking about her cousin. "Well, I think that's fairly normal," Kara pointed out as she ate a fry. "Normally people don't agree on every single thing...or else we'd just be Daleks or something."

"Daleks?"

"They're from 'Doctor Who'," Kara quickly explained.

"Ah," he said with a smile. "You know, it's amazing how different and yet how alike you two are."

"Okay, Lucy's right…" Kara blurted out. "You are Clark-"

"Whoa...whoa… Don't hate."

She just beamed at how upset he seemed to get all of the sudden. "I'm glad he had... _has_...you as a friend, James," Kara said. "I didn't get to be there for him like I was supposed to. We were supposed to grow up together...and we didn't even get that. I'm just glad that he had a family...friends...people who care and love him for him...not just for Superman."

"Tell me about Clark."

"Come on, you know Clark…"

"No, I really don't," Kara said. "Not the same as you. You _have_ to have some good stories…"

James was really quiet for a while. "Come to think of it, Clark really never mentioned you until pretty recently...but I just figured that he was protecting you. You can't tell me that Clark just dropped you off with the Danvers and that was it though…"

"Well, no...but it was...awkward...and different and-"

"Yeah, I guess it would be," James said. "I didn't even think how odd that might be for Alex too…"

"I guess I was just grateful that Clark was raised by good people, that he was happy, that he was doing good on this world…" Kara shrugged. "That seemed to matter more...also, it was all sort of a lot to take in. One minute, my cousin Kal El is a baby...and then I'm here on Earth and he's older than me and grown and goes by Clark Kent and Superman."

"Okay, so here's a story about Clark," James said. "I doubt it's one you've heard."

Kara sipped her beverage, ate her fries, and just listened.

"So, this was before I knew Clark was Superman. We hadn't known each other for long...a few months," he said with a shrug. "I wasn't going home for Thanksgiving and Clark...well, he couldn't see me left alone in Metropolis on a holiday with nowhere to go...so he took me home...to Smallville." He seemed to laugh, just thinking about the memory. "It was a great Thanksgiving...of me babbling on about Superman...I couldn't help it, I was a tad bit obsessed back then…"

"Like a fanboy?" Kara teased.

He laughed even more at that and then nodded. "Yeah, but don't tell Clark that...he won't ever stop using that term." James shook his head. "I didn't know that he was Superman until the next year...and I thought he was so weird when we were in Smallville that first Thanksgiving...and looking back on it now...I just...how did I not see it? I probably looked like a total idiot to the Kents too."

Kara smiled at that. "I'm glad Clark has you, I really am."

"Mrs. Kent always goes on about how she felt like Clark needed a brother growing up and that I was the closest he's gotten to one," James smiled, but then it seemed to drop and he suddenly seemed sad. "Kara, I didn't mean anything-"

"No!" Kara said quickly. "Honestly, I'm just glad that you two found each other." She shrugged. "I had Alex… I _have_ Alex."

"But he came to visit you guys…"

"It wasn't the same as it would have been on Krypton," Kara informed him. "I mean, besides the age thing...me being older rather than him being older...but we would have grown up together. It would have been almost like having a brother."

"Would you have changed things?"

That caught her off guard. "You mean, having grown up with Kal instead of Alex?" There was the bonus that she'd have been able to have told the Kents that his name was Kal. "I don't know. Would it have been great? Sure. I could have told him all about Krypton. I could have told him about the House of El...about his parents...about mine...about everything that he never knew…" She stopped and thought about it honestly for a long while. "But Krypton is gone and neither one of us can ever go back...so maybe it is better things happened how they did… Honestly, it might have made it harder for me to figure out my place here on Earth." Kara was sad all of the sudden thinking about it. "But maybe...maybe if I hadn't been with the Danvers, then Jeremiah would have never been killed or taken...or wherever he is… Alex and Eliza would have never lost him-"

"Kara-"

She looked at him. "But my life wouldn't be what it was...what is is now...if I hadn't had my sister...and maybe even if I hadn't been with the Danvers they would have made Jeremiah work for the DEO or whatever other organization is out there…"

"You know, there's probably some parallel universe where you and Clark grew up together...one where it happened on Earth and one where Krypton never was destroyed…"

Kara gave him a smile. "I have thought about that, but it always makes me sad thinking that I would have never had Alex in my life...or you...or Winn…"

James smiled in response. "You know, I'm really the luckiest one...because I have been able to be friends with you and Clark."

"And I don't think that Clark makes friends as easily…"

That seemed to catch James by surprise and he thought about it for a long moment. "You know, you're right…"

"I guess it's hard to keep friends when you have to deceive them on a daily basis…"

"He tried to keep the secret...but you-"

"Well, he _told_ you about me, so that really wasn't fair," Kara pointed out with a smile.

"Would you have told me if he hadn't?"

"...eventually?"

James smiled at that. "Alex would have hated it more."

"Probably, but she and everyone else realize that I need you and Winn to know… Secrets are hard enough, but having to keep secrets from you guys...I just don't know how I could have done it...it would have been so hard...and I would have likely been fired from CatCo within the first week of being Supergirl."

"Well, I can tell you that I like the way things turned out," James told her.

Kara beamed. "Me too."

* * *

The End.


End file.
